The tears stung her eyes, wet and warm on her face. She stumbled out of the crowd, glancing over her shoulder one last time to see Andy speaking with one of the soldiers, and took off at a run.

At least he would be safe. They'd take him to one of the evacuation camps, maybe put him into some sort of schooling or fostering system and probably eventually corral him into the army himself to go killing mutants.

Killing…

Killing people like her.

Lauren choked back another sob and forced herself to keep moving. She couldn't let herself get caught back into the crowd, she had to get away, get some distance between her and the checkpoint and even more distance between her and Andy before her heart broke in half.

She finally stopped in a vandalised and partially destroyed park, slumping to the floor next to a large tree.

What was she meant to do now?

At least before she had had Andy. They were never alone. But he needed to be safe now, and she couldn't give him that. She rested her head on her knees and sobbed.

She wasn't sure how much time passed, maybe a couple of hours, before she heard the footsteps.

How could she be so stupid?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She was right out in the open here, with nowhere that even remotely looked like a good hiding spot. She should have known by now to always stay somewhere sheltered, somewhere hidden, but apparently all of her defensive skills had been left with Andy.

Or maybe all of her defensive skills were because of Andy.

She held her hands out, prepared to shield herself if she needed to since without Andy there was no need to hide it.

It was a tall, broadshouldered, dark haired man in a dirty hoodie and jeans. A filthy knife hung from one hand. Lauren held her breath and stayed down behind her tree. Maybe he wouldn't notice her if she stayed still enough, she was filthy and stinking after all-

"Hey there!" he called.

No such luck.

"Fancy meeting someone else out here on a day like this!"

"Fuck off!" she shouted back. His expression darkened.

"I'm only trying to be nice!"

"I don't need your niceness, and I certainly don't need your help! Fuck off!"

"If that's how you want it," he snarled, and started towards her. Lauren struggled to throw up a shield, but her hands were shaking and her mind refused to focus.

"We both know what you're really doing hanging around out here, and if you're not a very good girl, I'm going to call for the army men."

A tiny shield formed in front of her, barely big enough to cover her heart.

What she wouldn't give to shield her heart right now.

He grabbed her arm, and that gave her the motivation to form a bigger shield and deflect the knife moving towards her neck, shoving him away from her. She scrambled backwards, struggling to form another shield in time with her shaking hands. When she practised she'd only made smaller shields, she had no want or need for bigger ones. A mid sized one formed in front of her as he rushed towards her, dodging it.

There was a scream from somewhere, and something hit the man's back, putting him off balance for Lauren to toss him away again.

A shape rushed up from the past, screaming like a wild animal and brandishing what looked like a metal pipe. "Stay away from my sister!"

He brought the pipe down on the man before he could get up, bloodying his nose, and gave him several more blows before Lauren grabbed his arm.

"Stop Andy stop, Andy stop! Let's go!"

They left the man there on the ground behind them.

They ran from the park and kept running until they found an empty grocery store. It had been smashed up and looted, but they collapsed behind the empty register, both of them crying and clutching to each other.

Then the inevitable screaming started.

"What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing? Saving your ass!"

"I was doing fine on my own!"

"It sure looked like it!"

"You were meant to go through the checkpoint!"

"Not without you!"

"I can't go through the checkpoint!"

The screaming stopped.

They stared at each other.

"Of course you can, they just scan you and let you walk through. And I'm not going without you, so there."

Her shoulders dropped and she sighed heavily. "No, Andy, I mean I can't go through the checkpoint."

He stared at her. "I don't-"

"Because they'll shoot me."

"But surely they're only shooting-"

"People like me," Lauren whispered. "I'm a mutant Andy."